'Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Seok-youl's First One-on-One TV Debate Without Ahn Cheol-soo, Is This Okay?'

'Lee Jae-myung - Yoon Seok-yeol TV Debate' Agreed to be Held on 30th or 31st
People's Party Files Injunction to Ban Lee-Yoon One-on-One TV Debate
Ahn Cheol-soo Calls Lee-Yoon One-on-One Debate "Malicious Act"

Lee Jae-myung, the Democratic Party presidential candidate (left), and Yoon Seok-youl, the People Power Party presidential candidate. [Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Heo Midam] Lee Jae-myung, the presidential candidate of the Democratic Party of Korea, and Yoon Seok-yeol, the presidential candidate of the People Power Party, have reached a sudden agreement to hold the first one-on-one TV debate. However, criticism has arisen as minor party candidates, including Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party who maintains support in the 10% range, were excluded from the debate. Holding a TV debate with only the two major party candidates is pointed out not only as a violation of the public’s right to know but also as a move that could push the presidential race into a 'two-power structure.'

The Democratic Party and the People Power Party agreed to hold the one-on-one TV debate between Lee Jae-myung and Yoon Seok-yeol during the Lunar New Year holiday period, on either the 30th or 31st. It is unusual to promote a presidential candidate TV debate during the holiday period.

The two parties requested the three major broadcasters to schedule the debate for either ▲Option 1: 7?10 p.m. on the 31st or ▲Option 2: 7?10 p.m. on the 30th. Once the date is set, they plan to hold a rules meeting to decide the debate format and moderators. The debate is expected to cover all current issues related to national governance.

Seong Il-jong, a member of the People Power Party’s TV debate negotiation team, explained the reason for holding the debate during the Lunar New Year holiday as "a time when relatively many generations gather together and a good time slot so that many citizens can watch and be helped in choosing the national leader."

However, voices of opposition to the one-on-one TV debate have emerged. In particular, the People’s Party has expressed dissatisfaction over the exclusion of candidate Ahn Cheol-soo, who has been rising in support to around 15% in various polls since January. Currently, the People’s Party has filed a petition for a broadcast injunction with the court against the three major terrestrial broadcasters.

Ahn Cheol-soo, the presidential candidate of the People’s Party, is speaking at the 13th Central Election Countermeasures Committee meeting held at the National Assembly in Yeouido, Seoul, on the morning of the 20th. [Image source=Yonhap News]

Candidate Ahn strongly criticized the one-on-one TV debate as "the tyranny of the two major parties" and a "disagreeable debate." He said on CBS Radio’s 'Kim Hyun-jung’s News Show,' "if they are candidates, they should be given equal opportunities and satisfy the public’s right to know, but since that is not happening, it is an unfair debate," adding, "The entrenched two major parties collude to monopolize the debate, which harms the public." He sarcastically added, "Since the two most disagreeable candidates are debating, it becomes a disagreeable debate."

The Justice Party has also raised its voice of criticism. Lee Dong-young, the Justice Party’s chief spokesperson, said at a briefing on the 18th, "Saying that only the two major party candidates will debate is like kicking out those who are short in the exam room, denying diversity and discrimination," and "Excluding minor parties from the debate means excluding the voices of many vulnerable and minority groups in our society, and it infringes on the public’s right to know."

Candidate Ahn and Shim Sang-jung, the Justice Party’s presidential candidate, are eligible to attend the legally mandated debates hosted by the National Election Commission. However, for debates organized by media outlets, participation criteria are not legally defined. In other words, the one-on-one TV debate between Lee and Yoon is not illegal.

Nevertheless, there is considerable criticism regarding the exclusion of minor party candidates from the debates. It is pointed out that if only the two major party candidates participate, the public’s right to know is not guaranteed.

Lee Jae-myung of the Democratic Party of Korea (from the right), Ahn Cheol-soo of the People Party, and Yoon Seok-youl of the People Power Party, presidential candidates, are attending the New Year's greeting event of Daegu-Gyeongbuk residents in finance held at the Press Center in Jung-gu, Seoul on the 17th, posing for a commemorative photo.
[Image source=Yonhap News]

In this regard, six media professional organizations including the Korean Federation of Journalists’ Unions, the Korea Journalists Association, and the Broadcast Journalists Association issued a joint statement on the 17th, calling the one-on-one debate "an obvious abuse of power" amid "nonsense and unfairness," and criticized it as "the result of a collusion by the two major parties who want to 'exploit' the TV debate in a way favorable to themselves, despite the broadcasters’ initial proposal for a four-party debate."

They added, "In the COVID-19 situation, TV debates that guarantee fairness and diversity are the most important election procedure to ensure the public’s right to know and proper exercise of suffrage for citizens who find it difficult to get close to candidates," and "In this situation, the one-on-one TV debate attended only by the Democratic Party and the People Power Party seriously infringes on the rights of minor party candidates and citizens with diverse political views, and is political tyranny by the two major parties."

This is the first time in history that the two major party candidates have held a one-on-one TV debate outside of the legally mandated debates in a presidential election. During the 2012 presidential election, Park Geun-hye of the Saenuri Party and Moon Jae-in of the Democratic United Party held a one-on-one debate, but that was after Lee Jung-hee of the Unified Progressive Party withdrew before the legally mandated debate.

Meanwhile, the National Election Commission’s Broadcast Debate Commission, which hosts official debates, has criteria for invited candidates.

For presidential elections, the qualifications include ▲candidates from parties with five or more seats in the National Assembly ▲candidates who received 3% or more of the vote in the previous presidential election ▲candidates from parties that received 3% or more in the previous proportional representation election in the general or local elections.

The Broadcast Debate Commission plans to hold a full committee meeting on February 15, the day after the presidential candidate registration deadline, to finalize the list of invited candidates. The invited candidates will participate in standing debates lasting two hours each, held at 8 p.m. on February 21 (economy), February 25 (politics), and March 2 (society).